ASDAN joins Whole Education Summer Conference 2026 as headline sponsor

ASDAN is delighted to be partnering with Whole Education as headline sponsor of the Whole Education Summer Conference 2026, Thriving Anyway, taking place on Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 July at the University of Warwick.

This year, ASDAN celebrates 35 years of working with educators to engage, elevate and empower every learner, at any starting point.

As an education charity and awarding organisation, ASDAN creates and awards practical, portfolio-based, Ofqual regulated qualifications and certificated courses that help learners build confidence, develop core skills and prepare for learning, work and life.

Our partnership with Whole Education feels especially timely in this milestone year. Both organisations share a commitment to education that recognises the learner, supports the educator and creates meaningful opportunities beyond narrow definitions of success.

Learners should be active participants in their own journey, with opportunities to build agency, belonging and confidence. Educators also need strong networks, shared practice and practical support to create equitable curriculum pathways that work for their learners.

A shared commitment to whole education

This year’s conference theme, Thriving Anyway, speaks directly to the challenges and opportunities facing schools and trusts.

Across the two days, delegates will explore holistic education, inclusion and what it means to create learning environments where every learner can belong, participate and progress. These themes connect strongly with ASDAN’s work across learner agency, skills development, flexible pathways and meaningful progression.

ASDAN’s curriculum approach is built around practical, real-world learning. Learners are supported to plan, do and review their learning, developing the essential skills they need to shape their futures.

For mainstream secondary schools and multi-academy trusts, this means thinking about how curriculum can support achievement, engagement, confidence and readiness for next steps. ASDAN’s courses and qualifications can sit alongside existing curriculum models, helping schools create broader pathways that recognise different strengths, starting points and ambitions.

That focus on agency, confidence and meaningful progression is why our partnership with Whole Education feels so important. Together, we want to contribute to a national conversation about curriculum, inclusion and how education can help learners thrive.

“At ASDAN, our 35th anniversary is both a moment to celebrate and a moment to look ahead. We believe every learner should have access to an education that recognises their strengths, builds confidence and supports meaningful progression. Our partnership with Whole Education reflects a shared commitment to inclusive, learner-centred practice and to supporting educators to create learning that matters. We are proud to be headline sponsor of this year’s conference and to contribute to such an important conversation.”

Melissa Farnham, Chief Executive, ASDAN

What ASDAN will bring to the conference

Across the conference, ASDAN will host a dedicated programme of sessions exploring inclusion, learner voice, skills, belonging, curriculum and progression.

The programme will bring together ASDAN colleagues, partners, members and leading voices from across education to consider what great education can look like for every learner, at any starting point.

Sessions will include:

• Teacher agency, professionalism and inclusion, with Dame Alison Peacock exploring trust, co-agency and learning without limits.

• Alternative provision, exclusion and belonging, with Craig Johnston considering how relationships, learner voice and meaningful participation can support re-engagement.

• Learner voice, with Amber Stamp-Dunstan and Ava McAuley considering how learners can be heard, valued and able to influence change.

• A knowledge-rich and skills-focused curriculum, with Evelyn Haywood from Skills Builder Partnership exploring why skills matter and what good practice can look like.

• From education to work, with Rylie Sweeney and Gareth Reynolds, Director Education and Impact at ASDAN, exploring readiness through an apprenticeship lens.

Melissa Farnham, CEO of ASDAN, will also lead sessions exploring belonging, relationships and learner engagement. These will consider learners in kinship care, what sits beneath attendance and behaviour, and how a relational lens can deepen our understanding of transition, SEND and inclusion.

Together, these sessions will reflect the wider purpose of the conference: to think deeply and practically about how education can support every learner, at any starting point, to thrive.

Curriculum consultations

ASDAN will also offer bookable curriculum consultations during the conference.

These 15-minute sessions are for delegates who would like to explore how ASDAN’s courses and qualifications could support their curriculum, learners and wider inclusion priorities.

During a consultation, delegates can discuss their current provision, learner profiles, intended outcomes and any challenges their organisation is facing. ASDAN colleagues will help identify suitable courses, qualifications and pathways that could support engagement, personal and social development, achievement and progression.

The consultations are designed to support schools, trusts, colleges and other organisations to think about coherent, inclusive curriculum pathways that meet learners where they are and support meaningful next steps.

If you are interested in finding out more about becoming an ASDAN member, you can speak to an ASDAN curriculum expert before the conference.

Delegates will be able to book a curriculum consultation by visiting ASDAN’s exhibition stand on the ground floor during the conference.

Join the conversation

ASDAN looks forward to joining Whole Education members, partners and delegates in July for two days of discussion, reflection and shared learning.

We are proud to support a conference that places learners, educators and whole-school practice at the centre of the conversation.

Register for the Whole Education Summer Conference 2026 to join the conversation about how education can engage, elevate and empower every learner, at any starting point.

To find out more about ASDAN’s courses, qualifications and membership, speak to the ASDAN team at the conference or arrange a conversation with one of our curriculum experts before the event.